Focused attention

Some notes on wellness

Yoga with Uday Bhosale

Two classes with a new-to-me teacher this weekend really brought home that yoga doesn't need to be rigorous or focused on advanced poses to be effective.

Focused attention can be brought to the simplest of movements. Sitting in virasana in slight variations; observing the rotation in your ankles, feeling and shifting focus of where the weight is placed on the heel in tadasana.

 On Uday's site, a quote from B.K.S.

“Action is movement with intelligence. The world is filled with movement. What the world needs is more conscious movement, more action.”

Notes on pranayama

Continuing pranayama with Marlene through October and November.

One day, such a sense of sadness arising. I didn't stop my practise but said "hello", as in a 'Beautiful Monster' meditation. Not trying to dismiss, conquer or change the feeling; just accepting it. Acknowledging physical sensations of swelling in the chest, tightness in the throat, pain in the right shoulder. Just observing and not trying to fix anything, but also feeling it fade. Keeping eyes open but unfocused rather than keeping them shut.

Breath

Feelings of overwhelm and fatigue... keeping eyes open and focused about 3-4 feet ahead, focusing on the in-breath. Twenty breaths.

Upward Spiral

Everything is interconnected. Gratitude improves sleep. Sleep reduces pain. Reduced pain improves your mood. Improved mood reduces anxiety, which improves focus and planning. Focus and planning help with decision making. Decision making further reduces anxiety and improves enjoyment. Enjoyment gives you more to be grateful for, which keeps that look of the upward spiral going. Enjoyment also makes it more likely you'll exercise and be social, which in turn will make you happier... 

Circuits in your brain are an interconnected... with a couple of tiny changes you can reverse the trend... Don't feel like hanging out with people? Go for a run. Don't feel like doing work? Go outside. Can't sleep? Think of what you are grateful for. Worrying too much? Stretch. The Upward Spiral, Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time